What I Wore to Work Today: March 17, 2015Blouse: Forever 21, newSkirt: Ann TaylorShoes: Payless, new

I passed a woman in a kelly green shirt on the way to coffee. “What a beautiful color, a little out of the ordinary for her, doesn’t she usually wear a lot of neutrals?” I thought. Behind her was another woman in green. “And look, the next person is also wearing green, what are the odds!” A minute later there’s a man in a green plaid shirt putting something in the fridge. “Oh my god it’s St. Patrick’s Day.”

I wasn’t wearing any green, anywhere. All those people participating in a fun little tradition and there I was in my stupid brown tweed skirt and my stupid new black bow-neck blouse and my stupid new black pumps.

Here’s my first attempt at a new skirt pattern. For some reason I started with a slick purple watercolor floral fabric rather than an easier (cheaper) basic cotton. I screwed up the zipper and should add some kind of waistband or at least waist finishing, and I think it’s still wearable, perhaps for work as pictured. I had to make it smaller once I had sewed it, because apparently my measurements don’t actually correspond to the size on the pattern that it says they should. I also cut off six inches from the bottom for a better proportion. As you can see from the difference in length between the front and the back, I failed to account for the shapeliness of my hindquarters and will need to adjust the hem in the front to make it even. (Working on my posture could help too.) My rear has certainly become curvier since I started CrossFit coming up on a year ago, in a way I do not find entirely unpleasant.

I turned scraps from the fabric into a set of cards. I still have at least two yards of the material left, which I will turn into something awesome as I gain sewing skills. While the gentleman of the house says it’s granny fabric — “Face it, you like old lady things just like this big flowery material. Old lady, I say!” — I think it’s beautiful. (“Old ladies can be beautiful, and like beautiful things!”)